U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday, while crude prices rose, as traders monitored the latest developments on the Iran war.
Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 368.53 points, or 0.8%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.77% and 1.14%, respectively.
The US and Israel targeted the Middle East’s biggest flat-steel producer in airstrikes on Friday, Iran’s semi-official Fars news just reported, citing its own reporters on the ground.
Esfahan-based Mobarakeh Steel Co. is a massive quasi-state industrial company and one of several big steel makers in Iran, most of which are based either in Esfahan or Yazd provinces.
The company was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2020. According to Fars, the attacks hit an electrical substation serving the plant, an alloy steel production line and storage depots.
International benchmark Brent crude futures rose 2.5% to above $110 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures also gained 2.4% to above $96 a barrel.
Friday’s slip comes a day after the Nasdaq Composite fell into a correction, down more than 10% from a record set in October. The Dow is also nearing correction territory, down more than 9% from its all-time high. The S&P 500 is around 7% below its record.
President Donald Trump extended a deadline to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure to April 6, a little over a week after the original deadline that was set to end Friday.
“As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The announcement is the latest signal the Trump administration is seeking an end to the U.S.-Iran war, a conflict that has resulted in surging oil prices that’s already hurting voters at the pump and could cost Republicans their seats in the midterm elections.
A resolution to the conflict would be a boon for the stock market, which has tumbled since U.S. and Israel attacked Iran’s energy infrastructure on Feb. 28.
Uncertainty remains for investors, however, after Iran’s foreign minister reportedly told state media this week that Tehran has no intention of holding talks with the U.S., even if its leaders are reviewing an American proposal to end the war. On top of that, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that the Pentagon was considering sending another 10,000 troops to the Middle East.
The Strait of Hormuz is closed, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said to the country's state media, adding that movement through the key waterway will face a harsh response. Two Chinese ships were turned away from crossing the Strait early Friday, and a Thai-flagged cargo ship that had been hit in the waterway has run aground, Iran state media said.
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